"Jorge R. Frank" wrote:

"Scott M. Kozel" wrote:

Is there a shuttle flight that would have utility and justification
independent of a HST return, that would take place at the correct time
and mission profile, when the HST has reached the end of its life?

Not on the current manifest, I'm afraid. All planned shuttle flights are
either to ISS or HST. They're in different inclinations so you can't visit
both on the same mission. Plus, the Orbiter Docking System takes up too
much room in the payload bay for HST to fit.

A hypothetical mission would have to be launched in HST's orbital plane
(28.5 degrees inclination) and leave the payload bay empty for HST return.
The latter rules out a Spacehab-type science mission, leaving only a
satellite deploy mission possible. And the space shuttle is legally
prohibited from performing satellite deploys that could be done by an ELV.

That is basically what I thought. I think that it would be fascinating
to some day be able to see the HST in the Smithsonian Air and Space
Museum, and that would be easy for me as the new museum annex is less
than 100 miles from where I live (Virginia); but I can't see the
justification for a $500+ million shuttle mission being built around
a returning the HST if the mission is not justifiable for non-HST
reasons.

--
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